One piece adjustable key holder



Dec. 17, 1957 J. J OLSON I 2,816,434

I ONE PIECE ADJUSTABLE KEY HOLD ER Filed April 9, 1953 JOHN-J. OLSONUnited rates Patent ONE PIECE ADJUSTABLE KEY HOLDER John J. Qlson, St.Paul, Minn .assignor to Brown & Bigelow, St. Paul, Minn., a corporationof Minnesota Application April 9, 1953, Serial No. 347,795

Claims. (Cl. 70-457) This invention relates to an improvement in a onepiece plastic adjustable key holder formed in a single integral part bymaking the same of flexible plastic material. The one piece unitincludes the cord-like key 'holder and also the adjustable connectionmembers are made complete in a one shot mold. A feature of my holderresides in an adjustable cord member for the keys. Thus, if a smallnumber of keys are tobe held in the cord, the cord is shortened byadjusting it into a diflerent position, whereas, if it is desirable tohold a larger number of keys on the cord, the same can be lengthened byplacing the end thereof in a different position.

It is of primary importance that the key holder be made of materialwhich is somewhat flexible, and molded in one piece so that the cordwhich holds the keys is formed integrally with the body of the holderand that the end of the cord has formed thereon a locking member whichcooperates with a notch or recess formed in the body of the holder so asto hold the end of the cord adjustable as to its length.

My one piece adjustable key holder is formed with a cord projecting fromthe body of the holder and having a locking head on the free end of thecord. The holder may be made from such plastic material as polyethylene,

Vinylite or from rubber or a similar material. On either' side of thebody of the holder one or more channels or recesses are formed toprovide for holding of the free end of the cord in adjusted length orshort position.

Those skilled in the art will obtain a further understanding of my keyholder upon examination of the detailed specification and reference tothe drawings which form a part of this specification, in which:

Figure l is a perspective view of my one piece adjustable key holder.

Figure 2 is a plan view of my key holder in shortened position and inextended position shown by broken lines.

Figure 3 is a section on line 33 of Figure 2.

The drawings illustrate my flexible key holder A which is adapted to bemolded or formed out of such material as polyethylene, Vinylite orrubber to provide a flexible, yieldable nature to the body thereof andthe cord 25 of the holder A.

A flexible cord member 25 is formed integrally with the body 10 of theholder A and projects therefrom. The cord member 25 may be used to hangor support the holder. The free end of the cord 25 is adapted to receivekeys and support the same therefrom. The locking head of the key member26 is adapted to engage against the shoulders 27 or 28 bounding therecesses 29 and 30 which are formed in the longitudinal side of the body10, while the longitudinal side portion 22 is continuous.

The cord 25 is adapted to be inserted into the longitudinally extendedrecess 31 through the open longitudinal slot 32. The cord 25 is enlargedin diameter at 33; this increases the frictional contact between theportion 33 and the recess 31, while key member 26 fits into 2,816,434ice Patented Dec. 17, 1957 the recess 29 with the shoulder 34 on keymember 26 engaging against the shoulder 27 of the body 10. When the headof key member 26 is in the foregoing position the loop formed by thecord 25 is enlarged as illustrated by the dotted lines in Figure 2.

When it is desired to shorten the loop 25 into the position illustratedin Figure 2 in full lines, the cord is slipped through the slot 32 intothe recess 31 while the enlarged portion 33 is forced through the openlongitudinal slot 35 to place the enlarged portion 33 within thelongitudinally extending recess 36. When the cord 25 is in thisposition, it is shortened and key member 26 is positioned in the recess30 with the shoulder 34 thereof engaging against the shoulder 28.

The key member 26 is flat on one side to fit in the recesses 29 and 30,and the outer surface of the keyhead is round to conform with the roundsurface 23 of the body 10 of the holder A. This configuration provides asmooth contour to the body 10 of the holder A in either adjustment ofthe key-head end.

A feature of primary importance of my holder A resides in the formationthereof in a single integral part with the cord 25 integrally formedwith the body 10 as well as the locking key member 26 on the free end ofthe cord. A reason why this is important in the construction of my onepiece adjustable key holder is because heretofore key holders have beenmade and it was necessary to attach these key holders to a body portionor connecting device.

The old forms of key supports and key holders were more expensivebecause they had to be made out of several parts. Furthermore, prior artbeaded chains were not held in an adjustable position where, with thesame holder, a short or long key loop is formed from the samecombination of parts.

The old forms of key holders required more labor for assembly, therebyincreasing the cost of the finished holder. Furthermore, in my one pieceadjustable key holder, present day plastics may be utilized to mold thesame economically and this provides a resilient nature to the holder.Also, the cord loop support for the keys is not limp, but is firmwithout being rigid.

In accordance with the patent statutes, I have described the principlesof my one piece adjustable key holder and have illustrated oneembodiment thereof in the drawings. However, I desire to have itunderstood that the invention is not restricted to such illustrationsbut should be interpreted within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. In a one piece flexible adjustable key holder, a substantially flatoval-shaped body member, a cord-like member formed integral with saidbody member and extending therefrom, said body member having spacedapart recesses formed on one edge of said body member, said recessesbeing spaced from the ends of said body member thereby forming shoulderportions extending from said body member, said shoulder portions havingtubular cord-receiving recesses formed therethrough engageable aboutsaid cord-like member, a head member formed on the free end of saidcord-like member adapted to abut one of said shoulders when saidcord-like member is inserted into one of said cord receiving recesses.

2. A one piece adjustable key holder formed of resilient material,including a substantially oval-shaped body having a flat cross section,spaced apart protrusions along one edge of said body, said protrusionsbeing formed with cylindrical recesses and outwardly disposedcooperating slots to frictionally hold a key retaining member, anelongated cylindrical key retaining member formed integral with saidbody and having a free end, an enlarged end portion formed on saidkey-retaining member, said key-retaining member having a short rein-'forced section adjacent said enlarged end portion of greater diameterthan said key-retaining member but of lesser diameter than the enlargedend portion, said shout reinforced section of said key-retaining memberremovably engageable transversely into said cylindrical recesses of saidprotrusions to provide a unitary key holder having key retaining memberof adjustable length.

3. In a flexible one-piece key holder, an elongated body, a cord-likesupport member formed integral with and of the same material as saidbody member and extending therefrom, and an enlarged head portion formedintegral with said cord-like support member at the free end thereof,said elongated body having a plurality of slots and recesses formed inone longitudinal side thereof to receive and means to hold the free endof said cordlike support member.

4. In a one-piece synthetic plastic key holder, a body member having afirst and second longitudinal edge, a flexible cord-like member formedintegraily with said body member and depending from an end of the firstlongitudinal edge of said body member, said cord-like member having anenlarged head at the free end thereof and a shoulder adjacent theenlarged head, said body member having a slot and adjoining recessformed in the second longitudinal edge thereof to receive and means toreleasably hold said cord-like member.

5. A one-piece synthetic plastic key holder according to claim 4,wherein said body member has a second recess in the second longitudinaledge thereof and a second slot extending therefrom to the first recessto receive and a second means to releasably hold said cord-like member,so that the length of said cord-like member may be adjusted relative tosaid body member.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS873,431 Heine Dec. 10, 1907 1,159,535 Schut Nov. 9, 1915 1,282,468Scheel Oct. 22, 1918 1,479,611 Jones Jan. 1, 1924 1,863,150 Allen June14, 1932 1,974,499 Luce Sept. 25, 1934 2,185,359 Swanson Jan. 2, 19402,234,602 McIntosh Mar. 11, 1941 2,488,661 Eisenman Nov. 22, 19492,596,374 Crapster May 13, 1952 2,629,251 Schwalberg Feb. 24, 19532,631,449 Protsman Mar. 17, 1953 2,657,568 Morrell Nov. 3, 19532,685,193 Marymont Aug. 3, 1954

